Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-06-17


waiting for an audience. Accordingly he
was told to "crawl up" which he did as awl,.
wanlly us usual, and announced that tho
dance was ready to begin IL She and the white
strangers would be pleased to attend. Shortly
afterward we all rose, and Ayesha having
thrown dark cloak 1.-THE same, by the way,
that she had worn when saw her cursing by
the flre) over her white wrappings, we started.
The dance was 10 be held in the open air, on
the smooth, rocky plateau in front OF the
| gTNat cave, and thither wo made our way
About fifteen PAGES from the mouth of the
cave we found three chairs placed, and hero
we sat and waited, for as yet no dancers wcrc
to be seen. The night was almost, but not
quite, dark, the moon being not risen as yet,
which made us wonder how we should DO able
to sec the dancing
"Thou wilt presently understand" said
Ayesha, with little laugh, when Leo asked
her, and We certainly did Scarcely were
the words out of her mouth when from every
point we saw dark forms rushing up, bearing
with them what we at first took to be enor-
nous flaming torches. Whatever they were
they were burning furiously, for the flames
stood out yard or moro behind each bearer
| On they came, fifty or more Of them, looking
like devils from hell with their flaming bur-
dens. Leo was the first to discover what these
burdens were.
aGreat heavenln he shouted; athey are
corpses on 1re"
stared, and stared again. He was per-
fectly right; tho torches that were to light
our entertainment were human mummies
from the cavesi
On rushed the bearers of the flaming
corpses, and meeting at a spot about twenty
PAGES In front Of us, built their CHASTITY burdens
crossways into huge bonfire. Heavensl
how they roared and haredI No tar barrel
could have burned us those mummies did.
Nor was this all Suddenly saw ono great
fellow seize a flaming human arm that had
fallen from its parent frame and rush or into
the darkness. Presently he stopped and
tall streak of fire shot up into the air,
illumining the gloom, and also the lamp from
which it sprung. The lamp was the mummy
Of a woman tied TO a stout stake let
into the rock, and he had fired her hair. On
ho went q few PAGES and touched second,
then third and fourth, till at last we were
surrounded on three sides by great ring OF
bodies faring furiously, the material with
which they were preserved having rendered
them so infammable that the flames would
literally spout out of the ears and mouth in
tongues Of fire foot or more long
Nero illuminated his gardens with live
Christians soaked in tar, and we were now
treated to a similar spectacle, probably for
the first time since his day, only, happily, our
lamps were not living ones.
al promised thee strange sight, my Holly
laughed Ayesha, whose nerves alone did not
10 kr off FOL halA 4 hoxra ~
failed thee. Also, it hath its lesson. Trust
not to the future, for who knows what the
future may bringl Therefore live for the
day, and endeavor not to escape the dust
which seems to be mans end. What thinlest
thou those long forgotten mobiles and ladies
would have felt had they known that they
should one day flare to light the dance or boil
the pot Of savagesl But see, here come the
dancers; merry crew-are they notl The
stage is lighted-now for the play.n
As she spoke, we perceived two lines of
figures, one male and the other female. to the
number OF about 100, each advancing round
the human bonfire, arrayed only in tho usual
leopard and buck skins. They formed up, in
perfect silence, in two lines facing each
other, between us and the fire, and then the
dance-a sort OF internal and fiendish cancan
began. To. describe it is quito impossible;
but though there was good deal OF tossing
Of legs and double shufiling it seemed to our
untutored minds 10 be more of play than a
dance, and, as usual with this dreadful peo-
pie. whose minds seem to have taken their
color from the caves in which they live, and
whose jokes and amusements arc drawn from
the inexhaustible stores Of preserved NOR
tality with which they share their homes, the
subject appeared to be most CHASTITY one.
/ know that It represented an attempted
murder first Of all, and then the burial alive
of the victim and his struggling from the
grave, ench act of tho abominable drama,
which was carried on in perfect silence, be-
ing rounded of and finished with q furious
and most revolving dance round the supposed
victim, who writhed upon the ground in tho
red light of the fire.
Presently, however, this pleasing piece was
interrupted. Suddenly there was a slight
commotion, and a great powerful woman,
whom had noted as one OF tho most vigor-
GUS Of the dancers, came, made mad and
drunken with unholy excitement, bounding
and staggering toward us, shrieking out as
she came
81 want black goat; must have black
goat; bring me black goatIn and down she
fell upon the rocky floor foaming and with.
ing and shrieking for black goat-about as
hideous spectacle as can well DO conceived.
Instantly most OF the dancers camo up, and
| got round her, though some still continued
their capers in the background.
"She hos got a Devil" sung one of them
'Run and get black goat There, Devil
keep quiet-keep quiet You shall have The
goat presently. They have gone to fetch it.,
Devilp
II want black goat; must have black
goatl" shrieked tho foaming, rolling creature
again.
presently; keep quiet, there's good Devilln
And so on, till tho goat, taken from q
neighboring kraal, did at last arrive, being
dragged, bleating on to the scene by its
horns.
"Is it black onei--is it black oneY"
shrielied the possessed.
ayes, yes, Devil, as black as nights" then
aside, "lpeep it behind theo; don't let the
Devil see 1t has got white spot on its rump
and another on its belly. In ono minute,
Dcvil. There, cut its throat, quick. Where
is tho sauccrin
"The goatl the goat the goat! Give me
tho blood Of my black goatl must have it;
don't you SEQ l must have III OH OIL obi
give me the blood of the goat"
At this moment n terrified BAH announced
that tho poor goat had been sacrificed and
the next minute woman ran up with a
saucer full of tho blood. This the possessed
creature, who was then raving and foaming
her widest seized and drank, and was in,
stantly recovered, and without trace of
Mysteries, or fits, or being possessed, or what
ever dreadful thing IL was she was suffering
from. She stretched her arms, smiled faulty,
and walked quietly back to the dancerA who
presently withdrew in double liiie as they
had come leaving the space between us and
the bonfire deserted.
thought tho entertainment tsic) was now
over, and feeling rather queer, was about to
ask Shc II we could rise, when suddenly what
ut first took to be a baboon came hopping
round the fire, and was Instantly met upon
the other side by a lion, or rather human
being dressed In lions skin. Then came a
GOAT. then man wrapped in an oxs hide,